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Formal Introductions

"Hey Zeke," Luke said, trying to sound friendly, but this was difficult. He was faced with a shirtless, drug addict teenager who had been working for the man who had kidnapped two members of his family, shot his brother in law and generally disliked him. Zeke looked like he could spit venom. His eyes were blood red and almost glowing with hatred for the Jedi.

Luke had prepared the room for a special type of interrogation tactic. All the seats were arranged in a circle so no one, not just Zeke could hide. Everyone else was taking their seats, but Zeke was still standing in the middle of the room. They were taking a gamble, hoping that if they left him unbound that he wouldn't run off.

"Do you want to sit down?" Luke asked him gently.

Feeling as if he didn't have a choice in the matter, Zeke took the seat next to Wedge. Wedge felt slightly touched at the small gesture.

Luke sighed and began, "Zeke, we need to find the people who hired you, and for that your help is necessary. If you help us then we can offer you two things… freedom and help."

Zeke twitched, and Wedge's senses sharpened just in case.

"Help?" the boys voice was high pitched and he had begun to tap the side of his chair, "I don't' need help!"

It was obvious he wasn't going to co-operate. Especially not with Luke. Wedge decided to take over.

"Zeke, when was the last time you had a fix?"

Zeke froze. He didn't even twitch or tap. "How… how did you figure it out?" He turned on Luke, "Did you go into my mind, Jedi!" His voice filled with contempt.

Luke watched him, taking in every detail. "Nope," he said simply, then looked around at everyone else,

Wedge put a warning hand on Zeke's forearm and the boy looked down, as though he were considering biting it again.

"Oh yeah? So then how'd you come to that conclusion?" Zeke asked sarcastically, as though he didn't believe a word that was said.

Despite the tension, Han smirked. "You have no idea who we are kid, so you?"

Zeke rolled his eyes and said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, "Of course I do! You're the guy I shot- sorry about that! I was aiming for Goldilocks-" he jerked a thumb in Luke's direction, and indeed his hair was shining like gold in the light of the Falcon, "-but he moved."

Luke ignored the insult, if it was an insult. "Well, maybe finding out who we all are would be a good place to start then."

"This is starting to sound like a meeting of 'Drug Addicts Anonymous,'" complained Zeke.

Wedge sighed, for what seemed the hundredth time. This trip was starting to seem more depressing than he had originally hoped. He had thought it would be a rescue mission like the good ol' days. No chance of that! They were now sitting in a circle like a bunch of 'happy clappers'. "We're trying to help, Zeke. You're not helping."

"Yeah, well, guess what! Neither are you! If you're so interested, Here's who I am!" He sprang up before Wedge could stop him, "Zeke Jaret! Junkie and full time brat, with no respect for your precious New Republic! I hate your religion Skywalker, if it weren't for the Jedi the Imperials would never have come into power in the first place!"

Luke sat there calmly, taking the abuse with ease. He waited until Zeke had finished, before smiling, "Thank you for your opinion Zeke."

Zeke was about to blow up again but when he heard Luke's calm reply he stood startled.

"What?" he said confused, "why aren't you yelling at me?" he suddenly seemed younger, "Didn't you hear, I said the Jedi are a bunch of stupid gits!"

Luke said simply, "I don't think you deserve to be yelled at."

Zeke didn't know what to say, and sometimes when you don't know what to say it's best to keep quiet. Which is what Zeke did. He stood there with his mouth open waiting for someone to complete a sentence for him.

Finally he turned around and sat down again. Blinked twice and acted as if nothing had happened. Was that embarrassment?

Lando decided to come to his rescue, "Lando Calrissian, con artist extraordinaire, dealer in any substance under the suns," he said without thinking. He received a glare from both Luke and Leia.

However this answered Zeke's questions on how they had recognised the signs of withdrawal, "Ahhhh." He didn't need to explain why he'd said it.

"Han Solo, smuggler, pirate, crook and devoted father and husband," Han said, trying to be sweet and caring but at the back on his mind he heard Leia's voice:

'Shove it!'

Chewie growled and Han translated for Wedge and Zeke, "Chewbacca, furry friend and co-pilot."

Wedge grinned, he knew it was his turn, "General Wedge Antilles, Leader of Rogue Squadron, kidnapper of Princesses and whacker of oil pipes."

Zeke looked very curious at this. "I'll tell you later," Lando hissed.

Luke decided to use this as his opportunity to break through to Zeke's level. "Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master and eligible bachelor-"

To everyone's amazement, Zeke snorted with laughter and a proper grin broke out onto his face.

"You wouldn't happen to know any women who'd be interested, would you?" Luke asked jovially. He knew that Zeke wasn't really the full time brat he claimed to be, he was just looking for something to use as a weapon. He was just a troubled kid.

Zeke looked around the circle, "You're all crazy, mad, you're all nuts! I've been in a room with people high on about eight different types of spice and they were all saner than you!" His tone changed so suddenly it took the listeners time to adjust, "Why are you lot bothering with this?"

Leia coughed slightly then spoke out for the first time, "Because I want my kids back, and you know where they are."

Zeke glared and spoke to her with a hostile attitude, "Yeah, well that's none of my concern! I don't know anything about any kids!" He looked around at the rest of them. "An' why are you lot going after my 'employer'? He didn't tell us why we had to kill you, only that we had to do it." His last comment was directed at Luke.

All the time his iris's had been changing colour rapidly.

The whole room lapsed into silence while each person thought about the information they had just received.

"You mean," Han started after several moments, "that you have no idea why you were employed?"

Zeke shrugged. "No, why would I be interested? It was a good offer for money-" he paused, then figured that it was safe to continue, "-and I needed money for drugs. I never met Bobby Fett. I was the only one who never did because he hated my little hobby so much. He wouldn't let me within twenty feet of his ship let alone himself!a"

Lando cut in before anyone had a chance, "I'll explain later, point is we just need you to tell us where you were supposed to meet up again after you killed Luke. Once you've helped us, we can help you. Sort you out and get you back on the right track."

"How can I be sure you'll help me?"

Luke stared at the boy then answered, "You can't. But you'll have to trust us."

Zeke's eyes where changing colour again but this time they kept changing to every colour you could imagine.

Suddenly he smiled, "No more tying me to chairs, and we've got a deal."

Zeke had indeed given them the co-ordinates and now everyone was going off working, trying to make the Falcon go as fast as it possibly could.

Leia was left tidying away the chairs, which, as Luke had jokingly told her, was a very important job. Needless to say, she did have some very important work to do after this, but no matter what, she just couldn't concentrate on it right now.

Luke may have been able to brush off Zeke's comments on the New Republic and the Jedi Order but she had taken them to heart. In fact, she was taking anything that Zeke was involved in to heart. She hated the way that everyone was trying to give him a chance, except her. She hated his presence on the ship. But most of all, she hated the monster that had stolen away her children.

If it hadn't been for them she could be sitting at home reading a story to Jaina and Jacen with Han by her side, Chewie in the kitchen cooking dinner, Luke upstairs in his library reading some manuscript that he had been longing for and Lando on the com link just to tell them that he was looking forward to the next time he would see them. Wedge would be… well, Wedge would most likely be flying some suicidal mission just for the fun of it, completely in his element. And Zeke would be rotting in his drug den where he belonged.

Leia brought herself back to reality by cursing herself for thinking such thoughts about another living creature, but still, she couldn't help it.

Thinking back to everything said at the 'meeting' she said, more to herself than to anyone else, "Leia Organa Solo," she blinked back tears, "distraught and heartbroken mother."

No one was supposed to hear her, but from around the corner, one person did. And that one person was forced to blink a tear out of a multicoloured eye.

A.N. We know that this chapter seems kind of pointless but it's necessary. Sorry if it we bored you but the next chapter will be light hearted and full of fun! Apart from the first bit… which should be sweet!

Please read and review!

Thorney and Sweetdeath04